The announcement might seem ordinary: Moaza Al Matrooshi, 24, from Dubai has just given birth to her first baby boy in a London clinic. Except that this birth is an exceptional medical first. The young woman is indeed the first to give birth to a baby after the transplantation of ovarian tissue taken before puberty.
Moaza Al Matrooshi was born with a genetic blood disorder (beta thalassemia) requiring a bone marrow transplant preceded by chemotherapy.
Just before chemo, when she was just 9 years old and not yet pubescent, doctors removed her right ovary and fragments of that ovarian tissue were frozen.
Ovarian tissue transplantation and IVF were required
Last year, when the young woman expressed her wish to become a mother, Danish surgeons transplanted 5 pieces of ovarian tissue into her body (4 on her left ovary and one on her uterus). After this transplant, her hormone levels returned to normal, her fertility was restored, and she began to ovulate.
24-year-old Moaza Al Matrooshi is thought to be the 1st woman in history to have a child born from ovarian tissue collected before puberty. pic.twitter.com/OKkhESaUhZ
– BBC Newshour (@BBCNewshour) December 14, 2016
In order to increase the chances of having a child, the young woman and her husband underwent in vitro fertilization treatment. Three embryos were produced and two were implanted earlier this year.
“More than 60 babies have been born worldwide to women after their fertility has been restored, but Moaza is the first case of pre-pubertal freezing and the first patient to receive treatment for beta thalassemia” doctors told the BBC.
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